Swiss Finance instructors had a huge amount of experience

I wanted to attend the Swiss Finance Academy because it would give me first hand exposure to a variety of fields and help to pave my way in this industry. I constantly strive to surround myself with the greatest minds in the fields I am interested in. From an early age I recognized the importance of developing mentors. This mindset had a strong influence on my decision to attend Swiss Finance’s intensive summer program. It was evident from their backgrounds that the instructors had a huge amount of experience, and I was excited about being able to get their candid views about working in asset management.
Also, I thrive on competitive team projects so I liked the fact that group projects and presentations are an important part of the curriculum. In investment banking and asset management (my passion) you are often compelled to work with other people to achieve results so it was important for me to find a summer program that not only taught quantitative skills like advanced M&A modeling and valuation, but also focused on soft skills like leadership.

My thoughts about the financial markets have definitely changed since attending Swiss Finance Academy. Starting on Day 1, we were taught to be “independent thinkers” and to use reason and skepticism to analyze the news, including government data. Over the three weeks, we built our capital market analysis skills by reading Bloomberg news and watching interviews by top traders including: Jim Rogers, George Soros, and Marc Faber. We learned how to extract the important data and analysis as well as the discard the misleading information. In a world with countless opinions, it’s important not to hedge and be an “independent thinker.”

What was the best part of the Swiss Finance experience?

There were many “best parts” to the Swiss Finance experience. One of which were the students. Being surrounded with positive, hardworking, and smart students was one of the reasons I why worked so hard and enjoyed every single part of it. We were so close that many of my classmates extended their stay to explore Europe together. I am still in contact with all my classmates and we are all looking forward to the 2009 reunion.